rocker panel repair

[pamike]

is their any place that sells repair panels. i was going to cut out the bad and weld in new but it's worse than i thought and theirs not really anything to weld to. the almost the whole panel is rusted including the pinch weld. however the floor inself looks very solid. my girlfriend had this car for about 7 years and loves it, it runs 100% and i think i really hurt her feelings when i told her i didn't know if it was worth fixing. it is a shame because it has always been a good car and has 240K on it but runs like it only has 40K. what should i do try to fix or is it not worth it.

 

i found a 90 leg wagon 5 speed 4x4 for 600 obo. it has a decent body but has more miles i think about 290,000. i was thinking of offering them $300-400 for it. if it runs good now do ya think it could still run good for a while with that many miles.

[EVOthis]

i had a little prob. like this....prob. not as significant as yours though.... my rust hole was about 1 foot long and extended under the panel to the pinch weld....by buddy ended up cutting out all the rust...spraying it with a rust repellant and used some mesh screen with bondo and body filler and primer and all that good stuff....so far it has held rather well.....i cant see the damage but i believe the rocker panels are designed with some sort of safety factor in a collision....(i was reading something on here about that a few months ago).......

[Reveeen]

As far as I know there are no aftermarket replacements.

Any sheet metal shop should be able to fabricate you one (my local guy does them out of heavy gauge metal for $40 ea).

I really don't recommend "kicking and filling", LOOK at the structure of the car, no rocker panel = no strength in the structure (your call).

 

325,000 miles here on a turbo motor (miles, NOT K).

[bheinen74]

if you love the design of a car that is rusted badly, go to west coast, find the same car, buy it, drive it for many many more years...rust is a cancer, once it is bad, like yours is, it is more costly to fix than go find a non rusted one. Rust is cancer, and it will never be gone, and it comes back even faster the second round.